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Sample Blog Descriptionen-usMastering the MeSHhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-mesh-terms
When I was a graduate student at Columbia University, I had the extraordinary privilege of working in the same building as one of the world's greatest medical research libraries. When I saw a reference to a paper I wanted to read, I could usually lay my hands on a copy of it within minutes, no matter how obscure the journal or how long ago it was published. Often, the slowest part of the process was waiting for the elevator.

Besides hosting miles of shelves packed with the combined output of...

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science publishing,workflowhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-mesh-termsThu, 15 Nov 2018 00:00:00 -0500A Fair Few Flu Caseshttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-swine-flu-fair
Since at least 1918, when the "Spanish Flu" swept across the world, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake, Americans have blamed influenza outbreaks on other countries. These days we like to point fingers eastward, invoking images of ancient agricultural practices and chaotic live animal markets in China and Southeast Asia. With a whiff of smugness, we tell ourselves that those are obviously the kinds of places where we can expect the next global flu pandemic to make the leap into humans.

U...

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flu,virology,public health,agriculturehttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-swine-flu-fairThu, 08 Nov 2018 09:00:00 -050075 Years of Molecular Biologyhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-75-years-of-molecular-biology
In the November 1943 issue of the journal Genetics, Salvador Luria and Max Delbrück settled a long-running but arcane debate among bacteriologists. The original paper is freely downloadable, and is an amazing document to read today.

There's a delightful innocence in the simplicity of the experimental design, the lengthy explication of the theory behind the work, and the humbleness of the authors' conclusions. There is no hint that the paper is describing the dawn of molecular biology, a fi...

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microbiology,virology,science,historyhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-75-years-of-molecular-biologyThu, 25 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0400What the Heck Is This 'Polio-Like' Disease?http://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-polio-like-illness
Most people have by now seen the news about a mysterious "polio-like" illness paralyzing children across the US. To date, the CDC has confirmed 62 cases of the condition, called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), in 22 states since August. Another 65 people are suspected to have it, but haven't had the diagnosis officially confirmed yet. 90% of the patients are under 18; the median age is 4. All of the cases have so far tested negative for poliovirus.

As anyone who's had to pay for excess cellular bandwidth knows, the video contains far more raw data than the text file. That doesn't mean it has more information, though.

What if the video shows someone reading a Dr. Seuss book aloud? Most of the raw data in the video would just be a binary encoding of the speaker's picture, and a tiny bit of motion around their mouth. The audio track would contain moderately pace...

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communication,writing,speakinghttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-oral-bandwidth-illusionWed, 10 Oct 2018 16:38:31 -0400Flu Shot Firsthttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-flu-shot-first
Autumn has begun here in Massachusetts. The maple leaves are just starting to turn, days are getting shorter, and the house is full of wonderful aromas as we process the 50 pounds of apples we picked last weekend. It was a good year for apples.

Unfortunately, 2018 was also a good year for influenza virus, which killed an estimated 80,000 people in the US alone last season. There's a vaccine against this virus, but millions of people rationalize their way out of getting it each year. Let's se...

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public health,flu,virologyhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-flu-shot-firstWed, 03 Oct 2018 16:48:46 -0400Sorry, Alcohol Is Not Good For Youhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-drunk-science

Just in time for cocktail hour last Friday, the World Health Organization released a mammoth report on the health impacts of drinking. While reinforcing public health experts' image as Debbie Downers, the report lays out a compelling case for teetotaling. For those whose eyes have trouble focusing on the full report, there's an accompanying press release, and also a handy tweet storm to access at the bar.

But doesn't all this anti-ethanol advocacy fly in the face of solid data showin...

Sadly, it's never the wrong time to blog about polio. There's almost always a news hook. This time, it comes from Papua New Guinea, where a new outbreak of the disease has now reached the capital. As the depressing regularity of these kinds of events suggests, they're not freak accidents. They're predictable - and thoroughly predicted - side-effects of a fundamental tactical blunder by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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public health,virology,poliohttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-polio-eradication-paradoxTue, 18 Sep 2018 11:53:47 -0400A Few Short Lessons in Disaster Managementhttp://turbidplaque.com/grav/blog/2018-disaster-management-lessons
The best time to think and talk about disaster management is when there's no disaster. Unfortunately, most folks in the media, and on social media, don't do that. Instead, we wait until a hurricane is bearing down on the coast or Ebola virus is breaking out, and then all start shouting at the tops of our lungs. It's probably futile to try to change this pattern, but perhaps we can at least elevate the conversation a bit.

Unbeknownst to most of the people now yelling into the storm winds, d...